


The Fortuneteller

by KnightofSpace



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: !! its kind of a crossover, AtLA, Crossover, M/M, Voltron, aunt wu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-22 06:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12475792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightofSpace/pseuds/KnightofSpace
Summary: Team voltron makes the trip to the world of Avatar: the last airbender to see a famed fortuneteller, Aunt Wu. Coran wants everyone to get their fortunes read and he also wants to get some rare pandalilies...Lance of course asks about his future in romance, and a very curious in love keith cant help but listen in on lances fortune being told...





	1. Aunt Wu's

**Author's Note:**

> Mostly i just wrote this because Ive always wanted a little crossover between atla and voltron since i think its possible. I wanted the paladins to be in atla clothing with no ~space~ and no gadgets but in the same sitch as usual, you know, in space. I like klance and i was reminded of the scene at aunt wu's between aang and katara and decided to do it with klance! I wanted to post it on Keith's birthday so here ya go. everything i reference here is something you can see for yourself in episode 14 of avatar: the last airbender Book 1!

“Hmm…this place seems peaceful enough…” Shiro said.

The Paladins, Shiro, and Coran had landed on a planet of Coran’s request. Coran wanted to visit the famed fortuneteller of the world, Aunt Wu. He also wanted to get some items that were unique to the world, and perhaps see some old friends.

“Ooo! Pretty!” Hunk looked out the window upon the town. The town sat at the bottom of a dormant volcano with ice on its rim. The sun was rising, glowing a beautiful orange, and people were walking through the streets, running everyday errands, happily.

“Looks nice.” Keith jumped in. He smirked, crossing his arms and standing next to Hunk by the window.

 Allura turned back to Coran to ask him a question. “Coran…what planet are we on now and why are we here? You took us out several galaxies. Surely these people can’t know of the Galra or even of space travel. They look…human.”

“Wait, what?” Lance said. He rushed over from the other side of the room to look out the window.

Lance was silent, staring at the town from the window. It was…beautiful. It was…just like earth. It reminded him of home. There was grass, trees, and buildings! A volcano, clouds, wind, a sun…rain! People that looked human. People that looked… _really_ human. In fact he would even wager that this was just earth at a much earlier period in time. He…loved it. And he couldn’t wait to visit. He couldn’t wait to feel the breeze…hopefully there was a body of water around…

“I already told you! I want to get some materials that are unique to this planet! Plus…I know some people here that I’d like to see again. It’s also a very interesting world with rich history! It really can’t hurt to explore! It might benefit you all to learn a thing or two from this world’s customs! I wonder how it’s doing after all these years…” Coran went on.

Shiro stood looking out the window now, gazing upon the earth-like planet. “I have to say it is nice to see the wind blow through the trees. It may sound ridiculous but I think the breeze is what I’m most looking forward to.” Shiro chimed in.

“The BREEZE?!” said Pidge. Her face showed distraught and anguish. “From the looks of it, this place doesn’t have ANY high-tech technology. And if they really don’t know about the galra or intergalactic space travel, we can’t take ANY of OUR technology with us! I can’t take my phone…I can- we can’t take our weapons!”

“Ha Ha! YES!” shouted Coran, excitedly. “Why, you can’t even take your paladin armor!”

“Well…that’s ok we’ll just take our regular clothes” Keith said. He said it as a question, wondering why Coran would think it was a big deal to not wear their armor.

“No, no! You won’t be using those either!” Coran smiled. He was up to something.

“Well…what do you want us to wear then, Coran?” Shiro asked.

“You’ll have to blend in! Look at what the people of this world are wearing! It’s nothing like the ~futuristic~ clothes you guys came waltzing in here with. No, no. You’ll be wearing…these!”

Coran moved over to show the paladins clothing in a few different colors. They all seemed to be robes of some sort, and looked very similar to east Asian traditional clothing.

He had 6 different outfits. One was blue with white accents. Another was green with tan and gold accents. A red one that also had golden accents, another blue and green that seemed more of casual wear, and a yellow one with a red cape-like accessory attached.

“ _Wow_ ” Said Lance, sarcastically. “It’s like these were _made_ for us.”

“Well! They were given to me some time ago! When I visited this world for the first time. I couldn’t only visit one region so…I just visited ALL of them! And I brought outfits with me!” Coran smiled.

“Anyway, suit up everybody! And leave your possessions here! I’ve got authentic bags for you to carry!” Coran added.

Lance walked up to the outfits, looking them all over carefully. His eyes landed on the blue one with white accents. “Well…obviously this one is mine.” He took it off its hanger and walked off to change.

“Well, I want this one!” Hunk shouted. He jumped over to the green outfit with tan and gold accents. He quickly took it with him to the other room.

Pidge, Shiro, Coran and Allura all looked over to Keith, expectantly. They were waiting for him to choose what seemed to be the obvious choice. A few seconds passed.

Keith finally took notice and rolled his eyes. A grunt then fell effortlessly from his lips. “Ugh…fine I guess I’ll take the red one.” He groaned as he took it with him to another room.

“Pidge?” Shiro asked.

“Um…I’ll take this green one! It looks casual and movable. And…it’s green hehe.” Pidge took it off the hanger and walked out of the room.

“Allura?” Shiro asked again.

He was making sure everyone else was happy with their decisions before he chose. If that means he got the last one available, then he was fine with that. As long as everyone else was happy.

“Oh! Allura! The blue color belongs to people that are similar to your skin color if you really want to blend in! Of course, it’s up to you. Not unlikely to see an air nomad with dark skin! But…then again the air nomad one is…kind of big…” Coran suddenly felt bad for not having more outfits available.

“It’s fine Coran. I like the blue one more anyway. Plus, with these Altean markings I need to fit in as much as possible.” Allura grabbed the blue robes and walked off.

“Guess that means this one’s mine.” Shiro smiled. He grabbed the yellow and red outfit off the hanger and went off to change.

* * *

 

“You look lovely!” Coran had a huge smile on his face. He had the same outfit he wore to the space mall on, minus the eyepatch and the huge backpack.

Everyone stood together in the main room, looking very comfortable and happy with their choices.

“Ye-heah! This was _made_ for me!” Lance smirked. He struck a few poses in the robes and Hunk agreed.

“Your outfits kind of remind me of east Asian traditional clothing.” Shiro said.

“I was just about to say that.” Keith added.

“Uh…what’s East Asian?” Coran asked. Allura looked on as well, also curious of the new word.

“It’s a…type of people. That live on earth.” Keith said.

“Oh.” Said Allura. “I just kind of thought you were all the same.”

“Nope.” Lance stepped up to the explaining podium again. “I’m Cuban, Hunk’s Samoan, Shiro’s Japanese, Keith is Korean, and Pidge is…uh…white?” Lance’s voice went into a higher pitch by the end of his sentence.

“Italian. But yes…white.” Pidge interrupted.

“Italian!” Lance said, reassured.

“Don’t worry about it too much right now, princess. It’s a lot of human earth history to cover. It basically just means we grew up in different places, have different cultures and have ancestors from different areas on earth dating back to the beginning of our time. And also it effects how we look and what languages we can speak. Pretty simple.” Lance relaxed.

Coran jumped up excitedly. This sounded just like something they had on Altea! “Oh, yes! We have something similar! It is why our markings are different colors and our skin and hair can be very different! You see…” Coran started.

He stopped. His finger was up in the air, as if he was about to go on a tangent. “Um…you’re right. It’s a lot of Altean Altea history to cover…we’ll save it for another time.” He finished.

“Anyway! Let’s go! And remember! Don’t mention space, anything high-tech, anything “alien”, the Galra, OR anything that will get us in trouble!” Coran shouted the last part at all the paladins, hoping to drill it into their heads. “Alright then, off we go!”

The castle ship was hidden and parked in a forest nearby and the team began walking to the next town.

* * *

 

 The team found a path to the next village and began following it.

It was made of light brown bricks all placed intricately together but there was no pattern. They looked like a game of tetris and luck.

Trees surrounded the path completely and the breeze blew through them every few minutes very much to Shiro’s liking.

“That feels nice. I almost forgot what it feels like to have the wind blow through your hair.” Shiro commented.

His eyes were closed as the breeze swept through his hair, pulling strands apart and letting it flow freely.

The path seemed to be coming to an end as they spotted a paifang that served as the entry way into the village. Just past the arch were rocks along the path and a stone with engravings. Chinese-like buildings appeared in the distance as well as a fence just next to the first building in sight.

“Oh! Here we are!” Said Coran, excitedly. He rushed over under the paifang and directly to the stone with engravings to take a look. He looked back at the paladins and waved with his whole arm, telling them to come over to where he was.

Lance and Hunk exchanged glances with a smile. They turned their attention back to Coran and raced over to meet him.

Lance, Hunk, and Coran were talking while looking at the stone and waiting for the rest of the paladins to catch up.

Upon seeing the arch, Shiro felt surprising familiarity away from home. Between the clothing, the supposed time period, this paifang and even the buildings…he noticed something strange. “Wow…Keith…doesn’t this look like…?”

“Like what? Like China? Like ancient China? Yeah. It does.” Keith responded.

“So you see it too! Ok. But there’s no way! I mean…how far away are we from Earth…and how would they even get ahold of Chinese culture from EARTH…I mean…there’s no way, right?” Shiro went on.

“I don’t know Shiro I mean…we’re in _space_. I know you didn’t go but _we_ went to an _alternate reality_. I wouldn’t put it behind some other planet in the universe to have similar culture to one on Earth.” Keith said.

“That’s just….so interesting…I wonder how alike they really are.” Shiro said.

Keith pouted as they walked under the arch and got a better view of the village and its buildings. “I suddenly feel like im in a time travel k-drama.”

Shiro laughed at that.

Allura was walking ahead of them, taking in the view. They caught up to the rest of the team and then they all proceeded to enter the village.

* * *

 

Right as they were coming upon the fence just before the first building, they noticed a building with a red door. It was circular like a moon gate and had a man standing in front of it. The building was what looked like two and a half stories high, with a Chinese-like architecture feel to it. There were people standing around talking, holding fans and wearing what continued to look like very traditional Chinese clothing. Their hair was even done up the same.

As soon as Coran arrived near the door, the man standing in front of it approached him.

“Aunt Wu is expecting you…” He said.

He motioned toward the door as if telling them to enter, so they did.

* * *

 

“Alright I wasn’t gonna say anything but this is starting to get really weird…this looks like ancient China.” Lance said as he looked at everyone else with his eyebrows raised.

The red door closed behind them and they stepped into the lounge of the building. There were exposed beams, there was tatami mat flooring, screen windows and doors, a folding screen, lanterns, vases and rugs with pillows on them for sitting.

There was also some drapery on the screen dividing walls. They were gold and brown and had a symbol that was unfamiliar to anyone on the team. Under it was a large green cloth that hung from one end of the wall to the next.

They stood at the entrance, unsure of what to do with themselves.

A girl came out from the hallway behind the screen walls and introduced herself. “My name is Mei. And I’m Aunt Wu’s assistant.” She said.

She motioned toward the pillows on the rug near the folding screen, inviting them to take a seat. “Can I get you some tea or some of Aunt Wu’s special bean curd puffs?” She said.

“Uh…some tea would be nice.” Shiro answered.

“I’ll take some bean curd puffs!” Lance said as he plopped down on a pillow.

“We’ll get you more pillows right away.” She said as she disappeared behind the screen walls again.

She returned with four more pillows a few seconds later and disappeared again to get the refreshments.

Lance, Pidge and Hunk had already been seated, taking in the room and its designing. Shiro, Allura, Keith and Coran took seat on the extra pillows Mei had brought out and they all made themselves comfortable.

“Yeah I gotta side with Lance here, this place really reminds me of ancient China.” Hunk said.

Shiro laughed and looked over to Keith.

“Keith and I were just talking about that. It makes it feel more like Earth though, doesn’t it?” he said.

“So…Coran why are we here?” Keith asked.

“Well…I heard a rumor some new famed fortuneteller resided on this planet and I really wanted to visit! I love fortunetellers! It’s so much fun to get a reading!”

“FORTUNETELLING?!” Lance was ecstatic. “I LOVE fortunetelling! Do you think…Aunt Wu’s gift is real?”

“Well from what I’ve heard, it is!” Coran said.

Lance got very excited and was getting impatient. He couldn’t wait to get his reading. He could ask so many things…he could ask about romance…will he end up with Allura?! Will he find Mrs. Blue lion uh-red lion? On the course of this journey in space?

Mei returned with the tea and the curd puffs and placed them before the paladins and Coran. “Enjoy your snack! Aunt Wu will be right with you!” She paused and looked at Shiro, confused.

“Your clothes…you look like someone that came in here not too long ago…except he was a kid. And he had an arrow on his head…but I haven’t seen anyone else wear those colors…do you know him?”

Shiro looked over to Coran for help but he was busy examining the curd puffs.

“Uh…no. Sorry. I just got here. I…don’t know very many people around here.” He said.

“Oh…” She left back behind the walls again and left the paladins to relax.

Shiro picked up a cup of tea and held it in his palms for a few seconds, just looking at it. It reminded him so much of home. The heat gave him goosebumps and chills that warmed him up all over and made him feel safe. He took a sip and was instantly back at home. This was the best trip they had taken so far.

Lance and Hunk were helping themselves to the bean curd puffs. “These are pretty good!” Lance said. “Yeah, no kidding! I miss earth food…” Hunk said.

Allura took a cup of tea and enjoyed the warmth in her hands. Pidge was still taking in the interior design of the place. And Keith opted out of any refreshments.

“So what are you guys gonna ask about?” Hunk started. “I’m gonna ask about whether im gonna be ok in the future or not.”

“Well I know what _Lance_ is gonna ask about~” Pidge was teasing him, as usual. “He’s gonna ask about _love~._ ”

Everyone looked at Lance, who was shoving a curd puff into his mouth. He looked back, glancing over everyone’s eyes. “…So, what?! I, for one, enjoy a good romance fortune…” He said.

Keith scoffed and smiled. “I bet your romance fortune will come back as someone you absolutely hate and can’t stand.”

“No way! Why would I marry someone I hate?” Lance said.

Keith was taken by surprise. He was just teasing but Lance just let his first question to Aunt Wu slip. “…You’re gonna ask who you’re gonna marry?”

Everyone else was entertained by the two’s conversation. Pidge and Hunk were eating curd puffs like they were watching their favorite drama, staring intently at the two as they conversed.

Lance started turning red, realizing that he revealed his most desired question to the entire team. “Well…yeah? I’ve…always been curious…and I’ve always wanted to get married…” His heart started beating faster. He was starting to feel kind of embarrassed.

Keith was speechless. His heart thumped faster and he was getting anxious. I mean it’s one thing for your crush to ask about love and get a name other than yours because everyone goes through multiple crushes but…marriage? The end all be all? Keith silently hoped Aunt Wu would say Keith’s name when Lance asked.

What if…she doesn’t say Keith’s name? Aunt Wu is the real deal, right? That means…Lance doesn’t return Keith’s feelings…

Still embarrassed, Lance started up conversation again. “What are _you_ gonna ask…?” Lance asked Keith.

Keith looked back at Lance, leaving his heart broken thought tangents behind. “Uh…I don’t know. I…haven’t thought about it yet.”

“Just be cautious! Remember, don’t mention the Galra or space or anything! Be vague with your questions!” Coran reminded the team.

“Of course, Coran.” Allura said, defeated.

Just then, an old woman came out of the room just beyond the hallway. She was wearing golden robes and a golden head piece. She wore red lipstick and had purple eyeshadow.

“Welcome, travelers!” She greeted them. “Now, Who’s next? Don’t be shy.”

Everyone looked over to Lance, expecting him to jump at the first opportunity.

“Well I don’t want to go first _NOW_!” Lance felt embarrassed.

Everyone else exchanged confused glances with each other, trying to decide who should go first.

Shiro decided to step up to erase the shyness.

“Guess that’s me.” He put his tea down and stood up, ready to follow Aunt Wu into the other room.

“Your future is filled with pain and anguish, most of it unfair.” She said immediately.

“Wh-“ Shiro started. He lifted his arms in confusion. “But you didn’t even read my palms or anything.” He said.

“I don’t have to. It’s written all over your face. Sit down. Have some more tea. Take a rest.” She put her hand on his shoulder and applied a slight amount of pressure, telling him to sit down.

Confused and broken, Shiro sat down and held the warm cup in his hand. He stared ahead with dead eyes and his mouth slightly open from shock.

Aunt Wu looked around at the others and pointed at Lance. “You. Come with me.”

Lance blushed, knowing that everyone in the room knew what he was about to ask. He got up and followed Aunt Wu silently into the room beyond the hallway. He was very still while still in sight of the rest of his team but once the team was out of sight, he started to get excited.

The room Aunt Wu did her fortunes in had 4 pillars around a square indention in the center of the room. There was a fire burning at the center of the square and pillows surrounded the fire. Small candles were placed around the square, on the higher leveled flooring, and a tea set was close by. The room glowed a calming red and orange from the fire and from the red lanterns that hung from the ceiling.

“Go on. Grab a bone from the pile. This is the most reliable way of telling your fortune. The bones never lie.” Aunt Wu told Lance.

Lance walked over to the pile and grabbed one he liked. He walked over with it and sat on the pillow just opposite of Aunt Wu.

“Ok. Got it.” He said.

“Now throw it in the fire. The heat makes cracks in the bone and I read the bone cracks to tell your destiny.”

Lance threw his bone into the fire and they waited.

* * *

 

“So…what do you think they’re talking about in there?” Pidge meant her question to be directed at the very obviously nervous Keith across from her.

“Eh probly boring stuff. I mean _love_ , obviously. Who Lance is gonna marry. How many babies he’s gonna have.” Hunk said. He was looking up at the ceiling, calmly.

Keith’s leg started shaking after Hunk’s comment. He wanted to know what reading Lance got.

“Y-yeah. Boring stuff like that…well I’m gonna see if I can…find a bathroom. Uh…be right back.” Keith got up and went into the hallway just behind the screen walls.

Pidge looked over at Hunk, knowingly. Shiro and Allura smiled and Coran started eating some puffs.

“So…we all know that Keith has a crush on Lance, right?” Pidge said.

Everyone paused in between what they were doing and looked at Pidge in surprise. They couldn’t believe she would just out and say it like that.

“What?” Pidge couldn’t believe the disbelief at her right now.

* * *

 

Keith tip toed very silently down the hallway. It was pretty easy since they had taken off their shoes at the entrance and were barefoot. He made his way to a part of the hallway that was shielded from the lounge area and pressed his ear against the screen door.

“Your hands are so smooth! Do you use moisturizer?” He heard Aunt Wu’s voice come from beyond the door.

“Thanks! But actually, my friend Hunk made me some special ~spa-uh….” Lance caught himself. He was obviously about to say space. Keith silently face palmed before putting his ear back to the door.

“He made me some special…seaweed lotion. I could get you some if you want.” He finally finished.

Keith sighed in relief.

“So…do you see anything interesting in my love line?” Lance finally asked.

Keith’s heart somehow started beating faster than before. His whole body got nervous and he could feel himself focusing harder than he ever has. Which…Is saying something.

Aunt Wu’s voice was the next one to come through. “I see great romance for you. The one you’re going to marry!”

Keith tried his best to press his ear harder against the door, as if it was even possible. His eyes widened moved around frantically.

“Really?! Tell me more!” Lance’s voice was filled with excitement.

“I can see that they are a very skilled fighter!” Aunt Wu replied.

Keith’s heart stopped. He took his ear away from the door and smiled. He made his hand into a fist and pulled it toward him while whispering “yes!” and then turned around to head back. He couldn’t wipe the smile from his face and he wasn’t trying to. He began heading back to the lounge.

* * *

 

Lance immediately thought of Allura. After seeing her use the blue bayard? She was _amazing_! This HAD to be Allura. No way…he’s going to marry Allura! He couldn’t believe it.

“Thank you so much Aun-” Lance started to get up to leave.

“He’s…very strong. But needs you. And you need him.” Aunt Wu added.

Now it was Lance’s hearts turn to stop. He couldn’t believe what he just heard. It was a few seconds before he could reply.

“I’m sorry…did I just hear you say ‘he’ three times? And not _all_ in reference to me?” Lance’s heart had gone into panic mode this time. This couldn’t be _right_ …this couldn’t be… _his_ reading...right?

Aunt Wu did not reply. Her eyes were focused on the cracks in the bones.

“Um…I’m sorry I think there’s been a mistake. There’s no way I’m…meant to fall in love with a…’he’…I don’t…I’m not…” Lance found it hard to even say.

“Oh yes. I see this internal conflict too. But do not worry. The bones don’t lie. It will be alright.” Aunt Wu said.

* * *

 

“Looks like _someone_ had a pretty good bathroom break.” Pidge immediately powered on her sarcasm machine when she saw a smiling Keith come back from the right end of the hallway.

Keith stopped. “Yeah. While I was in there-“

“Keep it to yourself, paladin!” Coran shouted.

Just then the screen doors to the room across the hallway slid open and Lance walked out with Aunt Wu.

Lance looked stressed. He was very silent and didn’t lift his eyes from the ground. He went to sit next to Hunk again and rest his chin on his palm, patiently and in thought.

Keith’s smile died down when he saw the expression on Lance’s face. “Are you…okay?” He asked him.

Lance briefly looked up at Keith and then quickly looked back down again. “Yeah I’m fine. Just bored. This fortunetelling stuff is a bunch of mumbo jumbo. When are we leaving?” he crossed his arms and slouched.

The rest of the team exchanged confused looks. They couldn’t imagine how a fortunetelling session on romance got Lance to make _this_ expression. They all decided to leave it and not ask any questions.

“Who’s next?” Aunt Wu opened her arms wide, inviting anyone that wanted to come.

“Um…I’ll go.” Keith replied. He was still worried about Lance but he also wanted to have his reading done…

“Alright, come on.” Aunt Wu motioned for Keith to follow her and they disappeared behind the doors. Keith looked back at Lance one last time before he was out of sight.

* * *

 

“Not to worry, Lance!” Coran made a point of his high energy. He thought it would pull Lance out of this down.

“After we all get our readings, I’m going to go visit the volcano to get a rare pandalily and then we’ll be off! Something is strange here…and I have a feeling my old friends are not around anymore.”

Allura did not want to invite more sadness to the lounge, so she offered her own words. “Well…it has been ten thousand years of our time. Who knows how much time has passed here and what kind of developments this world has gone through while you were away. I’m sorry, Coran.”

“It’s all right, princess.” Coran did not let his voice drop in tone. He also did not want to invite more sadness to the lounge.

“Grab a bone from the pile, dear.” Aunt Wu told Keith.

Keith looked at the pile of bones. They all looked the same to him. He didn’t understand how this was supposed to tell the future in the most accurate way. Maybe Lance was right. Maybe this was a lie. But from what he heard earlier, he hopes that it isn’t.

Keith grabbed the first bone on the top and followed Aunt Wu to the pillows by the fire.

“Go on, throw it in.” She said.

Keith threw the bone into the fire and waited for cracks to form. The first one appeared and it nearly cut the bone in half.

Pouting, Keith looked over to Aunt Wu to see what her interpretation was. “That’s a…pretty big crack…”

“I’ve never _seen_ this before!” Aunt Wu said.

Eventually the bone completely cracked apart and spread in different directions as the fire stretched high and grew. Keith and Aunt Wu shielded themselves from the flames.

“Oh my!”

Aunt Wu looked down at the many fallen pieces of shattered bone on the floor. She began to interpret them.

“Your destiny…This is incredible…” She held her palm to her forehead to calm herself of the overwhelming fortune before her. “You will be involved in a great battle! An awesome conflict between the forces of _good_ and _evil_! A battle who’s outcome will determine the fate of the whole universe!” She lifted her hands above her head and stood up on her knees in horror.

Keith sighed. “Yeah I kinda knew that already. But did it say anything about a boy?”

Aunt Wu was shocked. She brought her arms down and sat back down on her legs. “A _boy_? You want to know about… _Love_?”

“Yes!” Keith answered.

“I’m sorry but…I didn’t _see_ anything.” She took a second look at the bones.

Keith looked down, defeated. Is romance _in_ his future? Was the one in Lance’s fortune even Keith? Maybe Lance marries someone else. Maybe Keith doesn’t even…live long enough to fall in love. Or tell Lance about his feelings.

Aunt Wu looked over to Keith and saw his head hanging down. She didn’t mean to make him feel badly…

“Oh look! I must have missed something…!” She said.

Keith looked up again.

“Right here.” She held the bone piece above her head, so it was clear in the light. “It says…’trust your heart and you will be with the one you love’.”

Keith’s smile creeped back into his lips and he stood up, ready to bow to Aunt wu. “Really?! Thank you, Aunt Wu!”

He left the room and met up with the other paladins.

* * *

 

“All done, Keith?” Coran called out as he saw Keith come from the fortunetelling room.

“Yeah. I’m all done.” He said.

“Well. I guess I will be the next one to throw a bone into the fire. Wish me luck!” Allura got up excitedly and followed Aunt Wu to the other room.

Keith decided to take Allura’s spot and sat next to Lance.

“What do _you_ want?” Lance had his same old attitude.

“Nothing. Just wanted to make sure you were ok.” Keith was still worried about Lance. He seemed normal now though. He was still pouty but he was leaning back on his arms now and more relaxed.

“I’m…fine.” Lance replied.

“So what was your fortune, Keith?” Pidge asked.

“Huh? Oh…nothing. You know. Huge battle between the forces of good and evil. Stuff I already knew.” Keith said.

Lance grabbed his cup of tea and held it between his palms, silently. He didn’t speak a word for the rest of the night. Keith stayed next to him until everyone had gotten their readings and they left Aunt Wu’s building. When they were all done, they headed out to explore the village. That was really the only thing they could do since Coran mentioned he was going to the top of the volcano to find some pandalilies. He said he got the location from some couple on the street.

* * *

 

The paladins all stood outside Aunt Wu’s building. They had no idea what to do. They don’t know this planet. They don’t know the culture. They can’t talk about being aliens or space or the Galra.

“…so what should we do?” Hunk was tired of the silence. And of standing there for so long and getting weird stares.

“Good question, Hunk.” Replied Shiro.

“Well…do we have any money for this place? Did Coran give you anything, Shiro?” Keith asked.

Shiro opened up his red cape and looked through the brown bags that Coran had given them.

“Umm…..yeah. I do. I think?” He said, after he found what looked like coins. “What about you guys?”

Everyone looked through the bags that Coran had given them to hang around their waist or their shoulders. They were surprised to each have money in their own animal-skin bags.

“Nice! Let’s go shopping!” Lance had a sudden energy in his voice and it made Keith very happy.

“Allura, you come with me.” Lance immediately shot Allura a flirty look and Keith immediately was annoyed and pouting.

Pidge took notice of a pouting Keith, though. She never missed one. So she came up with a plan to get Keith and Lance to go shopping together. I mean it was the least she could do. Not only for their sake, but also for Allura’s.

“Actually Lance, I wanted Allura to come with me. You know, so we could bond. Girl time.” Pidge flashed a smile and wrapped her hand around Allura’s wrist. She softly pulled Allura away from Lance and off they went to explore what looked like the market.

“Well. I’m going to go look for a place to get more tea. Maybe I could buy take-home tea and a nice tea set to take on the road with us.” Shiro dropped the coins he took out of his pouches back into them.

“Ooo! If you’re going to a restaurant I want in. This is a great chance to find human-like food to take with us back to the castle! It also couldn’t hurt to eat food that tasted like _our_ food…and learn some more recipes!” Hunk followed Shiro and the two of them walked off to find the nearest restaurant.

Lance and Keith stood in front of Aunt Wu’s building, silently. Lance was not looking at Keith. He was facing the other way, probably deep in thought.

Just when Keith was about to break the silence, Lance sighed and turned back to look at Keith. “So what do you want to do? I’m not gonna leave you alone. You’d probly get into a fight somewhere and we’d all end up in huge trouble running away from some guys with like five knives.”

Lance crossed his arms and waited for Keith’s response.

“Um…we could…go shopping? Like Allura and Pidge are doing. They might have some cool weapons here.” Lance wasn’t really sold yet.

“They might have some cool facial creams…or beauty remedies…”

Lance was starting to get convinced. He did know that back in these times on earth, they used all natural things for beauty. That _was_ intriguing. He wanted to go find a body of water, and swim in it. But who knows if they had the time for that.

“Ok Mr.Persuasive, let’s go shopping. Weapons and Beauty Products. The ultimate duo.”

Lance and Keith walked off to the market together, hoping to find some good finds. Keith was ecstatic that Lance was with him instead of Allura. He’ll have to thank pidge for that later. When he looked over to Lance, Lance was still looking kind of down. Keith figured he had a lot on his mind from the fortune telling session. He wanted to ask Lance what was wrong but he knew Lance wouldn’t answer him. He just had to hope Lance would say something to him later.

For now, they were alone together and that was enough for Keith

Now, it was time to take Aunt Wu’s fortune and turn it into reality. It was time for Keith to try his best to ‘put the moves’ on Lance. This was his chance and he was going to make the most of it.

 

_~To be continued~_


	2. Seaweed Lotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance go shopping!!  
> Lance...you're looking at Keith...a lot...

“Oh, hey, what do you know, seaweed lotion.” Lance grabbed a bottle off a vendors table to take a closer look. He held it up close to see the details of the lotion and it looked…pretty gross.

“Interested in that fine seaweed lotion?” The saleswoman behind the booth immediately jumped at her next target. “It’s very good for your skin! It will make your skin soft and smooth! It will even repair whatever damage is there now! It may not smell the best but I have another product for that if you’re interested…”

“Woah, really?!” Lance couldn’t help but bite. He loved this kind of stuff.

Keith was happy to see Lance enjoying himself. He didn’t know anything about this stuff…anything he knew was because Lance told him as a side comment when he was doing his own stuff. Keith just stood by and let Lance have his fun with this.

“Wait wait wait…ok. I see what’s happening here…but I’m too smart for that! How do I know you’re not lying to me?” Lance asked. He put the jar of lotion down back onto the table and eyed the saleswoman, hoping to break her and find the truth.

“Just feel my arm! I use this seaweed lotion every morning! My skin has improved a great amount!” She held out her arm for him to touch. She was so enthusiastic that it didn’t seem like she was lying.

Lance reached out and softly ran his fingers along her inner forearm and down into her palm. “Wow! Impressive!”

Lance brought his hand back to the table and looked over to Keith excitedly. Keith wasn’t paying attention. His body was facing Lance, arms crossed and leaning on one hip, but his head was turned to look in another direction. He had seen something interesting at another booth and was distracted by it.

“Keith.” Lance called out his name to get his attention.

Immediately Keith looked back at Lance, giving him his full attention. “What’s up?” He said.

“Do you think I should buy this lotion? I mean I’ve got all that stuff back at the cast-uh…………….house? and I don’t really know the side effects of quitting use of it. I mean…what if we can’t…you know…get anymore after this?” Lance was lucky to have caught himself before he said castle.

“Uh…then…get two? I don’t know. How much are they?” Keith was trying his best here.

“Yeah, how much are they?” Lance turned back to the saleswoman who had a big smile on her face.

“They will be two silver pieces each.” She replied.

Lance brought his hand up to his mouth in thought. “Ok. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Is that…a lot?” He asked.

“I don’t see what you mean…” She said, confused.

“How much money did Coran put in your bag, Lance?” Keith felt the need to ask. Lance had money but who knows how much. Could he even afford this stuff? How much was ‘two silver pieces’?

“Oh. Right. Good call, Keith.” Lance pulled over his animal skin bag so he could open it in a more comfortable position. He undid the buttons and reached inside to grab all the coins he could see, then dumped them on the table.

On the table now sat a few different kinds of coins. They were all blue in color but they were obviously made of different materials. Some of them were thin, some were a pretty good size, and some were very thick, way thicker than earth coins. They all had circles through the middle and were circular in shape.

Lance squinted down at them, examining them. “Uh…” He looked up to Keith for help. He had no idea what any of these were or how much they were worth. He thought it was cool this world had blue money, though!

Keith had no idea what he was looking at either. He shrugged at Lance and looked down at the coins then back up at the saleswoman who had turned her attention to some kids playing in the street.

“Could you…help us? We’re uh…not from around…here?” Keith asked her.

She turned back to them to listen to their request and looked down at the table. Lance was trying to separate the coins based on how thin or thick they were and on how heavy they were. He was really getting the hang of it.

“Oh! Water tribe money!” She said, surprised. “So…you’re from the water tribe. I’m sorry, I should have known from your clothing. I know _some_ places in the Earth Kingdom accept water tribe currency but I won’t. Not everyone in the Earth kingdom will acknowledge water tribe money and I need to be able to use every ounce of money I earn.” She seemed genuine in her response.

“Aw, what?” Lance groaned. He had just separated all the coins and everything. He was starting to think he had figured out which were the silver pieces. And he definitely had enough money for one jar of Seaweed lotion.

Lance quietly scraped all the dumped-out coins into his bag. He had an obvious pout on his face and he didn’t try to conceal his sigh.

The saleswoman took notice and couldn’t help but feel bad. She felt the need to offer up another solution. “I’m so sorry. But if your…boyfriend here would like to pay for it, I’d be happy to accept fire nation money!” She motioned with her left hand at Keith, who stood in shock and emitted an awkward aura. “I notice he’s wearing fire nation robes!”

Keith. Lance’s boyfriend? No no no no no. Lance did NOT like that idea. He knew Aunt Wu somehow pulled a future _husband_ out of his future but it was definitely NOT Keith.

“Woah woah woah woah…Keith is _NOT_ my boyfriend. He _WISHES_ he was my boyfriend-” Lance started.

“Ugh…” Keith rolled his eyes and groaned. Keith couldn’t disagree, he did wish Lance was his boyfriend. Not that…Lance _knew_ that. But he couldn’t help but feel this whole reaction was unnecessary. Was there a reason to feel any kind of nervousness of love around Lance? Lance always just shot it down a second later…No. Keith couldn’t think like that right now. He tried to remember Aunt Wu’s words. ‘Trust your heart and you will be with the one you love’. He repeated it over and over again in his head.

Lance was still trying to explain to the saleswoman why Keith is most definitely not his boyfriend and why they would never work. Keith just ignored it, he knew Lance was just being his usual self.

“Ok. I’ll buy it. But I might _also_ need help with determining which are silver pieces…” Keith pulled off his bag and opened it on the table. He started picking out the different kind of coins that hadn’t been removed in _years_.

Lance stopped his rant and looked over to Keith in surprise. Keith was…being nice? No that was a dumb thought. Keith could be nice. Lance knows that. It’s just…Lance never would have guessed Keith would buy something for him. Not after all the teasing Lance had done to him.

“Wait. You don’t have to do that.” Lance said. Both of his palms were on the table and his expression had turned genuine.

“It’s fine, Lance. This isn’t a vacation for everyone _but_ you. If someone won’t accept your money, I’ll pay for it with my share. You should enjoy this trip too. Plus…looks like I’ve got plenty. I’ve got a _bunch_ of coins. I wonder how Coran got this money…” Keith replied.

Lance didn’t say anything.

Keith had a few different coins out on the table. These coins were like Earth money…A few of them were decently sized and copper with concave sides and an image of a flame at the center. A few others were very small, pentagonal and silver with a picture of a flame on the front, and some were pure gold and rectangular with a long slit in its center.

“Uh…never mind. It’s pretty obvious with _this_ money.” Keith said as he started to pick out the pentagonal silver coins from the bunch. He handed over 4 silver pieces and the saleswoman grabbed a cloth to wrap the jars of lotion in.

“You don’t have to get two, you know. I’d be fine with just one.” Lance’s voice was soft now as he watched the saleswoman wrap the jars of lotion and place them in a small basket.

“I wouldn’t want you _breaking_ out or getting a huge _rash_ on your skin. That would be hard to look at for a month. Make sure you space it out so nothing _puffs up_. You’d give Red a bad image.” Keith was teasing Lance now.

The saleswoman laughed. “I’m so sorry for assuming you two were dating. I should have known that a fire nation boy wouldn’t be dating a water tribe boy. I mean the two nations practically hate each other. The water tribe doesn’t contact _any_ of the other nations, and we all know what the fire nation did to their southern people. Not that _anyone_ is really on great terms with the fire nation…no offense…”

She looked back at Keith who was clueless as ever, arms crossed. He was waiting patiently and stoically, eyebrows raised and eyes lidded.

“Uh, yeah. None taken. The Fire Nation sucks.” Keith didn’t know what else to say. This woman made the Fire Nation seem terrible though, so he just agreed.

Lance gave Keith a confused look and mouthed “what?” to him.

Keith just shrugged back.

The saleswoman was surprised by his answer, she was staring at him like he was crazy. “Oh! Well…ok. You should be careful around here. I don’t know if you’re a fire bender or not but…a lot of earth kingdom people do not like to see fire nation around. If they see you bending, it will be worse.”

There were a lot of new terms being thrown around here and Keith was not good at so many new words. Lance wasn’t either. It’s why they still get confused when Allura and Coran talk in Altean speak. Lance had just gotten the time measurements right, and learning a bunch of new words for a world they were leaving soon didn’t seem important.

“Fire bending? Mmm…no I can’t do that. So…I guess I’ll be ok.” Keith smiled and picked up the basket with the two lotions in it. He held it close to his chest with both hands, being as careful with it as possible.

Having completed their purchase, Keith and Lance made sure they had their things and continued on down the path.

“Thanks!” “Thank you!” Keith and Lance shouted back at the saleswoman as they took their leave. She smiled and waved back at them.

Keith handed over the basket to Lance, carefully. The jars weren’t heavy but Keith had a feeling four silver pieces was a good amount of money and he didn’t want to _hear_ a _cling_ of any sorts, much less a _crack_. “Here you go. Be careful with them, they could probably break.”

Lance held it the same way Keith did, close to his chest and with both hands. He kept it there silently for a few seconds as they walked down the path of shops.

“…”

An awkward silence grew between the two. Neither of them said anything. Keith didn’t seem like he wanted to say anything. He was enjoying the scenery quite nicely, looking around at the trees and at the strange tall wall of pointed rock that surrounded the other side of the village.

Lance wanted to say thank you but he didn’t want to say it to… _Keith_. But he HAD to. Keith spent _his own_ money on Lance! And he bought him _double_ what Lance even wanted! He felt so _bad_ he _HAD_ to say thank you.

“UGH!” Lance groaned loudly. He threw his head back and closed his eyes.

Lance’s sudden loud reaction surprised Keith and made him jump and freeze where he was. He looked at Lance for some kind of explanation but Lance just looked annoyed.

Lance brought his head back up right and stopped just in front of Keith. He turned around to look back at him and absolutely avoided eye contact. Then, he let a sigh fall from his mouth, still annoyed.

“Thanks…for buying me the seaweed lotion.” Lance finally let himself look over into Keith’s eyes. “You didn’t have to and it means a lot. Thank you.”

Lance turned around with his head lower and started walking again. He was still hugging the lotion jars close to his chest.

Keith couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe it and he was so happy. He had gotten closer to Lance. Lance…had the courage to say thank you to him. He was sincere with him.

Keith couldn’t fight the urge to smile and he didn’t want to. They were making progress.

He quickly ran up to Lance and walked beside him again. His smile was still on his face.

Once Lance took notice of Keith’s presence again, he asked him a question that had been on his mind since just before.

“So…what were you looking at earlier? ...And why are you _smiling_?” Lance asked.

Lance looked squarely at Keith now, trying to take in his expression.

“Huh? What? No-I-I’m not.” Keith quickly wiped the smile off his face to try to play innocent.

Lance narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He wondered if Keith was enjoying Lance’s ‘thank you’ a little too much…

“Ok, that’s it. I’m gonna go return these jars of seaweed lotion-“ Lance looked back at the saleswoman’s booth.

“What? No! Those are _yours_.” Keith replied. “It’s nothing. I just saw something funny happen uh….over there.” Keith quickly pointed to any direction with his eyes, it didn’t matter which. He was lying, anyway.

“Uh-huh…” Lance teased. He was not impressed with Keith’s lying.

“Anyway, earlier I was looking over there at that shop.” Keith pointed to a ‘shop’ that was selling weapons.

A salesman was sitting in front of a wall of interesting looking weapons. Lance could see why Keith was so interested in it. After all, swords and knives and blades in general were kind of Keith’s thing. Lance thought it was too bad that this world probably hadn’t invented guns yet. It would have been nice to take a cool shooter back with him.

“Ooo you want a cool new sword?” Lance’s voice was teasing. His lips stretched into a smirk and his eyes were lidded. “Hey, how many swords do you have now? How many swords do you _need_?”

“I just wanted to look. They might be way above my pay grade. But they look _amazing_.” Keith started walking to the booth alone, expecting Lance to follow close behind him.

* * *

 

“Welcome!” said the salesman. He was sitting on a chair with his left leg’s ankle resting on his right leg’s knee. He uncrossed his arms to wave at Keith and Lance. “Interested in a weapon?”

Lance had caught up to Keith and both were looking at the selection of weapons hanging up behind the man.

“Yeah. These look amazing. Do you make them yourself?” Keith eyed each product that hung up. They were beautifully made with incredibly intricate detailing. The blades were shining perfectly and some were made of different materials than he’d ever seen.

The salesman smiled, “You got that right. Make ‘em all myself! So, each one is unique!”

“Yeah…I can definitely see that. I’ve never seen anything like these.” Keith was still staring at the individual weapons in awe. He made sure not to overlook a detail.

Lance didn’t really get swords. He thought they were cool, sure, especially when Keith had one in his hand. Keith could do all kinds of cool things with swords, it was always amazing to watch him fight. Even if he was just training in the castle against some robot. He’s so quick with a sword and he uses it like it’s an extension of _himself_.

Lance remembered all the cool moves he had seen Keith do while he was fighting. Lance forgot what he was thinking about…he back tracked for a few seconds until it came to him.

Lance thought swords were cool and all but aren’t they all like…the same? Obviously there is a difference between a space sword and a regular sword but…are they really that different?

Lance stood next to Keith, quiet. He looked over the weapons that were hanging up and then looked over to Keith. Keith’s eyes were sparkling. They made small movements as Keith leaned in to look at every detail on the hilt of a certain sword that had caught his eye.

Lance noticed how long Keith’s eyelashes were. They were straight and pointed downwards, but they were so long. How had he not noticed that before?

Lance’s gaze was interrupted by Keith turning back to the salesman to ask a question. “Would you mind if I hold this one? I want to feel it’s weight.”

The salesman, still smiling, got up to reach for the sword Keith had his eye on. “Of course! Yeah. This one would be _perfect_ for you. Its overall dimensions would be great for someone your size.

‘Keith’s size?’, Lance thought. He didn’t know you should only wield certain kinds of swords based on “size”. He just thought Keith could wield any sword he laid his eyes on. He probably could. This salesman doesn’t know who he’s talking to.

The salesman handed the sword over to Keith. The hilt was golden with two small dragons wrapped around it, from top to bottom. Small intricate designs surrounded the two, not leaving a blank space in sight. The blade was just like any other blade Lance had seen, but this one had a golden lining just before the edges of the blade. There were no scratches on it, no dents, no nothing. It was in perfect condition. It was beautiful.

“Ooo, yeah, you should get that one.” Lance _had_ to tell Keith. “It looks good in your hands.”

“It does?” Keith looked back at Lance who was smiling back at him. Keith always loved when Lance smiled at him. He couldn’t help but smile back.

“Yeah! You look _super_ cool holding it.” Lance, continued.

“I do?” Keith found it hard to look Lance in the eyes now. He looked back down at the sword to hide his embarrassment. Lance said he looked cool.

“Yeah! It’s practically yours already! You should just get it!” Lance lifted his arms in the air to express his encouragement. His hands landed back on his hips, and his smile was still directed at Keith.

It was so hard for Keith to say no to Lance. It was incredibly hard. Keith wanted to give the salesman his whole bag of money right now and walk off with it. There’s only one problem…he doesn’t know if he has enough money…

“But…what if I can’t afford it?” Keith said. He looked back at Lance, trying his best to fight his impulse.

Lance looked over to the salesman, “How much is this?” he asked.

“It’s ten gold pieces.” He replied.

Lance was shocked. He looked to Keith and cupped his hand around his mouth to whisper ‘ _ok not gonna lie, I don’t even know the currency of this world and that almost gave me a heart attack’._

“Well…Coran does have a bunch of gold coins in here…I wonder how many…” 

Keith handed the sword back to the salesman so he could go through his bag. He asked for Lance's help with holding the gold pieces that he managed to find and pull out.

Lance held his hand out, bored. He let Keith place gold coins on his palm, and he counted them out as they were put there.

He only counted 4 so far. Keith was still digging though. Lance wondered if there was a way for lesser currency, like the silver pieces, to add up to the equivalent of a gold piece. Maybe then Keith would have enough. But 10 gold pieces....he didn't even want to think about what that was equivalent to in earth money...

Keith continued to look through his bag. He would occasionally see a golden shimmer that indicated a gold piece. He reached for them and pulled them out, placing them on Lance's palm.

Keith hoped Lance didn't notice the extra second he kept his fingers on Lance’s palm.. It was simple, grab the coin, bring it up to Lance's palm, drop it, continue searching. But Keith didn't just drop the coins into Lance's hand. He placed them there. Keith's fingertips brushed against Lance's palm every time he found another piece. And he let it linger there for just a second more than needed. It made him happy. To touch Lance. There weren't many opportunities to do it.

For a few of the coins, Keith would let his finger slide down the remaining end of Lance's palm. He did it quickly, so Lance wouldn't think it was weird.

Lance didn’t think it was weird. He did notice the lingering touch, though. He thought it might just be a Keith thing™ that Keith just… _does._ Keith had a lot of those.

He didn’t mind, though. Keith’s hands were very soft and the touch across Lance’s palm was super satisfying. Lance wondered if Keith would be up for tracing things with his fingers on Lance’s hands. He could trace circles or he could trace letters on his palm.

Keith brought up another golden piece and placed it on Lance’s palm. “Five”, Lance said in a monotone voice.

Lance watched as Keith let his finger drag across his palm again until it fell off the edge of his hand. Keith’s hands really _were_ super soft and his touch _was_ super satisfying, Lance thought again. When watching Keith’s hand trail off, Lance thought of how pretty Keith’s hands were.

Lance didn’t understand how Keith’s hands seemed so perfect and beautiful when all Keith does is train and fight all day. He would imagine them to be hardened and have scars and injuries on them but no, super soft and beautiful.

It wasn’t the first time Lance noticed Keith had pretty hands. Lance was always kind of jealous of them. He wished his hands were as pretty as Keith’s. Keith’s hands were pale with the cleanest nails Lance had ever seen. They were strong and boxy, but they were skinny and he had beautiful long fingers. It made them look…delicate…almost. But Lance could definitely see Keith’s strength and power just from his hands. He didn’t get to see Keith’s hands often. Keith was always wearing those stupid fingerless gloves that he thought made him look cool.

Lance smiled unconsciously. He was just kidding. He loved Keith’s fingerless gloves. Lance thought they made Keith cool.

Looking up at Keith, Lance was reminded how pretty Keith himself was too. It wasn’t a foreign feeling. It wasn’t the first time Lance thought about how pretty Keith was. He just made sure Keith never found out.

 Keith was pale with dark hair. He had these big eyes that were a beautiful color and his lips were big, full and pink. They looked super soft too. He wondered if Keith ever had chapped lips. Lance has never seen him with them…he _has_ seen a few cuts on Keith’s lips before though. The scars were healed but they were hidden within the small natural dents that covered his lips.

Keith’s hair was long, his eyelashes were long, his build was strong but slender, he had thick full eyebrows, he was beautiful!

Lance hated so much that he had to admit that.

Just then, Lance realized that he had been staring at Keith and observing his features this whole time. He quickly looked away at the stores across from them. Lance looked around, hoping no one had seen him staring at Keith’s face for so long…he thought it might bring up the gross boyfriend idea again.

It wasn’t weird to appreciate other guys’ looks! Lance did it all the time. There are some good looking guys out there! And Lance was one of them! It was just that Lance didn’t want Keith to know how Lance felt about Keith’s beautiful eyes and full lips and long hair. That would mean defeat in the rivalry he had set up.

Still looking around, Lance deemed the coast to be clear. No one was even looking in his direction, everyone was busy. That is…that’s what Lance thought…

Until he turned back to the salesman who was sitting with wide eyes, raised eyebrows, and ‘o’ shaped lips that were starting to turn into a half-smile.

Lance smiled nervously at the salesman and waved.

The salesman looked over to Keith and then back at Lance. His half-smile was becoming a reality, and it was growing into something more.

Lance turned away again, feeling awkward. He really hoped he didn’t assume they were dating.

“Seven.” Keith’s voice brought Lance back to Keith.

Keith placed his last gold coin in the palm of Lance’s hand. Except this time, Keith didn’t let go of the coin, and he didn’t move his hand away. He held the coin in the ready position to place it down, but didn’t follow through on the action. Lance was confused.

Keith still wasn’t moving his hand. He used his other hand to jangle and move around his bag to check if he missed any golden coins.

“Yeah. I’ve only got seven…I don’t see any other ones in here…” Keith said.

‘Seven?’ Lance thought. Keith was on five just before Lance started to daydream…was he really that distracted by Keith? Keith must have placed six in his palm while Lance was daydreaming.

Keith finally placed down the coin and let it sit independently in Lance’s hand.

Keith sighed and tugged on the strap of his bag. “Seven…I don’t have enough.” He said.

“I’m sorry, Keith.” Lance said. He saw how Keith’s eyes sparkled when he held the sword, and it _was_ a really cool sword.

“It’s fine, Lance. It’s…probably more than we should be spending on material items anyway. Plus, like you said, how many swords do I need?” Keith said sorry to the salesman and then walked on ahead, leaving Lance with his gold pieces in hand.

Lance looked down at the gold pieces, sadly, and then made a fist around them. He started walking to catch up with Keith, then he stopped.

“Hey.” Lance turned back to the salesman. “Would you…happen to take “water tribe money”?”

 “Hmm. We don’t use it that much here. It’s currency that’s pretty exclusive to the northern and southern water tribes but…some people will take it. Good way to really save money. Can’t spend it if you can’t use it!” He laughed.

Lance stood with seven gold pieces in his fist, silently.

The salesman stopped laughing and looked up to Lance again. He had a smile on his face this time, and a sincere look in his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll take your water tribe money. No harm in helping you two have a great date. I bought my first date a hand-made necklace from a festival. Nothing wrong with going big and buying a sword, though!” He said.

Lance could not believe he was getting roped into romantic relationship with Keith again.

“No, Keith and I are _not_ on a date. And I just was…spacing out. You know? I didn’t ‘look’ at Keith any type of way. It’s not like that. We’re just hanging out until our friend gets back from doing something.” Lance said. Even if Aunt Wu said Lance would marry a man, it was definitely never in a million lifetimes going to be Keith. There was no way.

The salesman raised his eyebrows again in confusion and put a slight pout on his face. He was listening to Lance in disbelief, trying to assess the situation.

The salesman figured Lance out within a few seconds. “Oh…I see. Ok. Yeah, sure. It’s not like that! It’s just two guys bein’ dudes! Waiting for a friend to come back! Yeah, alright. Well, either way. I’ll take that ‘useless’ money off your hands.” He put both feet on the ground and brought his hands up to sit on his thighs, his elbows out as if he was getting ready to put in effort to get up.

Lance thought this would be a good opportunity to pay back Keith for the lotions. Then he wouldn’t owe Keith anything. Plus…he saw how Keith looked at that sword. And Lance really did think Keith looked amazing when holding it. Keith deserved it. He wanted Keith to have it.

“Really? Awesome! But…you gotta help me figure out which coins are “gold pieces”” Lance finally said, pulling his bag off his torso and handing it to the man.

“You…don’t know which are which?” The salesman asked.

“I’m uh…not from…around…here?” Lance smiled, mimicking the words Keith used to get them out of this question just a few minutes ago.

The salesman gave Lance a suspicious look, then looked down into Lance’s bag. He pulled out five very thick blue coins and separated them in his palm. He held them up to Lance so Lance could get a better look.

“The thickest ones are the gold pieces. They have the most value of all the currency here. Of course…there’s also bills but…you don’t seem to have any. This money also seems pretty dated but it’s still usable. Wasn’t _that_ long ago.” The salesman brought the coins back down to his own level.

“Let me see those fire nation gold pieces.” He said.

Lance opened his fist and let the salesman take the seven gold piece coins out of his palm.

“Uhh…” Lance didn’t know if he should have done that…he just handed over twelve gold pieces.

“Don’t worry im not gonna steal your money. I’m serious, I want this dat- uh…get together to go well for you.” The man took five of the fire nation gold pieces and handed the rest back to Lance.

Lance now held two gold pieces in his hand and had no gold pieces in his bag.

“There. Half and half. You don’t have enough gold pieces so…I have to take from that Keith guy too but…two gold pieces can get you a lot.” The salesman said.

The man reached behind him and grabbed the sword. He put it in it’s **scabbard** and then wrapped it in a cloth with rope. He handed it over to a smiling Lance, and said a few last words of advice.

“Hey…a tip…when you give it to him, watch his expression carefully. Read it. Question what it means. Then, watch _yours_ and question what _yours_ means.”

This man was confusing Lance a LOT. He heeded his words and started to turn away from the shop, holding the sword behind his back so Keith wouldn’t be able to see it yet.

The salesman sat back down, ready to relax. “He’s gonna love it!” He called after Lance.

“Thanks!” Lance called back.

Lance walked forward expecting to see Keith distracted at a booth somewhere, but Keith was nowhere in sight.

“Oh my god. No no no no no no no no no! Lance! You said you wouldn’t leave him!” Lance started talking to himself in panic.

“Ok…everything’s ok. If I were Keith _where_ would I be…” Lance was still talking out loud.

Lance closed his eyes and tried to focus. He couldn’t. He tried to focus harder. He couldn’t.

“UGH! I don’t know!” Lance said out of frustration. “Um…maybe a…different weapons booth?”

Lance looked around desperately.

A woman screaming interrupted his search.

Lance turned to the last booth on the path. A saleswoman had fled her booth and was watching around the corner with fear in her eyes and her hand on her mouth.

Seeing that something was wrong, Lance immediately started running over to her. He thought maybe someone was injured.

A huge rock was suddenly up in the air. It broke apart bit by bit and shot out rock pellets towards a certain point, like it was hitting a target. A wall of rock grew to be taller than any of the shops around him. Lance stopped running. He stared at it in amazement. He didn’t understand how a rock was floating. He wondered if that was just how this world worked…but no other rocks were floating…

A few small rocks flew by from beyond the corner. They were like…bullets. Really big bullets. Like they were being shot out of something. They went at an incredible speed and broke whatever they hit. Another wall of rock grew, just before the path Lance was on.

Lance was still. Waiting.

“Get back here, fire boy!” Lance heard a voice he had never heard before.

“Oh no…” Lance whispered these words, with a lot of feeling. He closed his eyes, and then opened only one, slightly. He felt like he knew who would be coming around the corner in just a few seconds…but he still hoped he was wrong.

Keith ran onto the path, he struggled to make the sharp turn but he made it. He wasn’t stopping and he looked as determined as ever.

“Oh noo…” Lance groaned, louder this time. He let his head fall back. He did not want to deal with this right now. This was supposed to be a vacation!

Three people followed Keith soon after. They were dressed in clothes similar to what Hunk and every other resident around here was currently wearing. They were Earth Kingdom people.

The one in the front, and closest to Keith, stopped suddenly. They quickly stomped their foot and the ground beneath them came up to form a rectangular pillar.

Lance could not believe his eyes.

The person then pulled their arm back as if they were going to punch the pillar.

Lance was still not moving. Keith was still moving.

Keith finally caught up to Lance but he did not stop. He gave Lance and look and kept running.

Lance looked back at Keith as Keith sped by and then back at the people chasing Keith.

As the person’s fist came to the pillar, the top of it sliced off and a heavy square block of rock came hurling toward Keith and Lance’s direction.  Lance turned to the side to block the rock. The rock flew past his face in what seemed like .5 seconds. A gust of air came to his face a second after it passed. It blew his hair like a windy day.

 “oO _H_ **_NO_**!” Lance yelled. Noticing that the person was already moving to punch the pillar again, he immediately turned and began running. He followed right behind Keith. Lance didn’t know what he just witnessed or what kind of weird magic was available in this world, but he did NOT like that these people could use their limbs to throw rocks.

Square rocks flew by them at a quick rate as they ran away. Lance had never been more terrified.

As they ran, they passed the saleswoman that sold them the two lotions from before. Lance was still holding the basket to is chest with one hand. The sword in the other.

He exchanged a look with the saleswoman, who seemed fearful for them. She looked at Keith and then back at Lance, a worried expression on her face.

Lance remembered what she said. ‘ _You should be careful around here[…]a lot of earth kingdom people do not like to see fire nation around. If they see you bending…it will be worse_ ’

Lance thought over her words and kept running, trying to keep up with Keith as best as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (i dont know what those dents in your bottom lip are called. I have no idea i tried looking it up but everything just told me about a different dent and its a lot but u kno what im talkin about. the dents. the lines in your bottom lip. that go up and down.)  
> anyway sorry, once again no internet. SO if there are any mistakes i will change them later.  
> originally wanted to post this on halloween but i couldnt bc i didnt have internet sooooooooooooooo im posting it today on 11/11 instead. sooooooooooo thanks for reading!!  
> (also if you have any tips on writing im ALL ears bc i honestly don't know how to write and am trying my best here.


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